The paper is about regional planning. How an area should be developd and planned.

Abstract

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING; ISSUES AND REALITIES

A great number of development theories, approaches and concepts, and many regional planning methods and techniques are presently confronting each other around the world as they are being daily tested against the very stark reality of underdevelopment and against the complacement and irresponsible neglect of influence.

A First is between planners who seek scientific objectivity in development planning and those who, as administrators and practitioners, must face political reality. One approach assumes economics to be an exact science like the sciences subject to immutable laws of nature that man seeks to understand and harness but cannot change. The other approach recognizes that in human affairs there is need for flexibility in concept and method; for deep understanding of the ever changing nature of our society; and indeed for direct involvement of the citizen in the continually evolving forms of human relations.

In the Second confrontation the scientific approach faces the pragmatic. The first is taken by those researchers who persist in finding through massive data processing “the correct” answer to the problems inherent in the behavior of wealth that man produces, while they tend to neglect basically human behavior of men who produce it. But in many instances, development practitioners and administrators are often compelled to plan and decide on the strength of scanty data, whether one considers their comprehensiveness or quality.

The Third confrontation is that of attitudes and values concerning development. One group of scholars sees the present conditions of under development and the world economic and trade patterns as they emerged from long-term colonial relationships to be of a rather secular nature. Others believe that – while the current revolutions in science and technology, in agriculture and industry, and in health and education are causing a host of social, economic and demographic problems – the social changes and the rapidly multiplying world potential for economic growth, indeed hold also the true keys to their solution in the highly industrializes as well as in the still underdeveloped countries.

The Fourth confrontation of approach and concept involves the suitable mix of economic efficiency and social benefit in development planning. Most planners stand by economic efficiency, a relatively simple concept, readily amendable to the use of mathematical methods and the computer, but far less reliable to conceive new planning tools which aim to blend economic and social criteria, thus adjusting to one another human progress and productivity, or rather projecting productivity for human progress.

This paper will explore the realities with reference to the above mentioned points. The paper will highlight each one with particular reference to regional development planning.